Structure within or outside a class?

[Keith Rebello]

I have written a class to draw dimension lines (like you see in
architectural drawings). I intend to use this class in engineering programs
that have graphical output.

The class has various properties like line color, arrow color, text size and
color, etc. To avoid setting these properties each time I need a dimension
line, I thought I would define a DimensionProperties structure and pass it
to the class in one form of the DimensionLine class constructor.

Should the structure be within the class or outside?
What scope should the structure have? The class has public scope.
Is there a better way of doing this, viz. without a structure?

I'd appreciate any thoughts on this subject.

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

* "Keith Rebello" <kr**@gecinc.com> scripsit:

The class has various properties like line color, arrow color, text size and
color, etc. To avoid setting these properties each time I need a dimension
line, I thought I would define a DimensionProperties structure and pass it
to the class in one form of the DimensionLine class constructor.

Should the structure be within the class or outside?
Outside if it should be easily possible to create instances of the
structure outside the class.
What scope should the structure have? The class has public scope.

'Public' too.

--
Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]
<http://www.mvps.org/dotnet>